Usually when cooking for an expanding family, I like to mix a little bit of healthy food with a little bit of kid-friendly food. When you’re dealing with a variety of sizes and ages, everyone still has to eat and everyone still needs to be happy. Okay, maybe I’m not going to please every member of the family, but I can give it my best shot, right?

A friend recently had her fourth child, a girl following three boys; and I since I’ve known them for quite some time, I knew they weren’t foodies like the Mr and me. They’re more of the traditional American family who enjoys traditional American favorites. I got a good deal on sweet Hawaiian rolls and that gave me the inspiration to make sliders!

I took a big serrated knife and carefully cut the entire package of rolls down the middle to form two giant slices of bread. I laid eight slices of Havarti cheese on the bottom bread. I formed eight mini patties (anything smaller and they would dry out much too quickly) of 80/20 ground beef carefully pressing to make a small well in the center of each patty (this will prevent “puffing” in the middle while cooking). I seasoned the patties on each side with salt and pepper and pan-fried each patty in a skillet on med for 3min on each side. When all the patties were cooked, I placed them on the bottom bread and laid an additional slice of cheese on each patty. I gently moved the top slice of bread into place. It’s ok if the patties don’t line up with the rolls; there’s plenty of meat and cheese to fill in the gaps!

One of my general rules is to incorporate vegetables into some part of the meal, so I grabbed a sunflower-bacon chopped salad kit from the produce section. I thought the bacon might complement the sliders. I also grabbed a bag of Lay’s BBQ chips, not only because they’re a classic, but because you can’t have cheeseburgers without Lay’s BBQ chips!

To finish, I threw in some salted caramel apple tarts and some Grain Berry brand cereal-Os. I wish I could say the tarts were homemade, but sadly they weren’t. They came as a frozen add-on with a recent meat order and I honestly just felt that they just fit with the meal! What’s more American than apple pie? The cereal-O’s were included because they were a healthier variety and they have the three boys in the house!

What’s your favorite “traditionally American” meal?